By: Ashley McCubbin

The NASCAR Pinty’s Series is only three races into the 2023 season, but it has not been without excitement as late-race drama has dominated headlines through the beginning of the year.

It’s almost poetic that the next event of the schedule takes place on Saturday, June 24 at Eastbound Raceway. The inaugural event last season was dominated by Marc-Antoine Camirand, with Treyten Lapcevich placing second. Thus far, it’s been these two taking up the aforementioned headlines.

Lapcevich dominated the season opener at Sunset Speedway, though found himself pushed up out of the lead in the closing stages on a late-race restart by Camirand. He fought his way back, taking Camirand and Kevin Lacroix three-wide to retake the lead on the final lap to win. The drama followed them to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, when Lapcevich gave Camirand a bump on the last lap in turn 10, shoving him wide and getting by for another checkered flag. Camirand got to throw his return shot, pushing Lapcevich up on a late-race restart at Autodrome Chaudiere to take his first victory of 2023.

Which of the pair will be standing tall at the end of the Pro Line 225? Will Camirand even the score, or will Lapcevich add another checkered flag to his collection? Oh, and will the event go without controversy to the checkered flag?

Of course, these aren’t the only ones to watch when it comes to Newfoundland, as there’s 19 other competitors in the field hoping to get a piece of the action.

Outside of the aforementioned duo, there is one other driver who has scored a top-five finish in each of the races – Kevin Lacroix, with a third and pair of fourths. The consistency has paid off as he enters the weekend only 17 points behind Lapcevich for the points lead. He will need to improve upon his initial trip to Eastbound if he wants the consistency to carry forward, scoring a seventh in the inaugural event.

DJ Kennington knows how to run well at Eastbound, as evident by placing third last year in a season that saw the No. 17 Castrol Dodge return to victory lane at Delaware Speedway. Although he has not been in the conversation for the win through the first three races, he has scored a trio of top-10 finishes with a best finish of sixth at Sunset.

Dexter Stacey surprised last season with a podium at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, a performance he backed up with another at Chaudiere – well, sort of. Due to an injury, he was replaced at the halfway mark by Raphael Lessard – who needs no introduction if you know his Pinty’s Series success, and outings in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with Kyle Busch Motorspors and GMS Racing. Still, Stacey could very well keep the momentum rolling through Newfoundland as he placed sixth in the inaugural event.

Past Series Champion L.P. Dumoulin also hopes to keep the momentum rolling, as he backed up his seventh in the season opener with a pair of fifth-place finishes. Of course, if he wants to repeat those titles of the past, a trip to victory lane should be in the future given what we’ve seen by Lapcevich and Camirand already this year. To do that, he can’t repeat the crash he had last year en route to placing 19th at Eastbound.

Brandon Watson, meanwhile, put together a solid race in his first trip to Newfoundland with a fourth-place finish. He could use a good run this weekend as his sophomore season has not gone according to plan, currently ranked 12th in points with a best performance of eighth.

Alex Guenette has proven that joining Ed Hakonson Racing was no bad move at all, as he is sitting fifth in the standings currently. It will be interesting to see how he does in his first trip to Eastbound Raceway, considering he started off the year with a second at Sunset Speedway, followed by a seventh and 10th.